How To: Lower Your iMac
Note: You are about to read a “ghetto mod”. Ghetto mods do not come with any guarantee other than some amusement.
The VESA adapter I ordered for my iMac arrived today however the VESA arm had not and probably won’t for a while. What’s a techie to do? Here’s what I did. I installed the VESA adapter like normal and then I zip-tied the standard base back on. Now, I know what you’re thinking… “this would have made for a PERFECT use of duct tape.” While this many be true for everything, the strong gray color of the tape would have clashed with the tender white plastic of the iMac. I opted for white zip-ties to complement the iMac’s visage.
With a total cost of ~$35 including the VESA adapter and industrial strength zip-ties, this turned out pretty well. The only downside is that it takes up more space behind the iMac, forcing it closer to you.
The 5 Step Plan
Step 1) - Take off the base and install the VESA adapter from Apple.
Step 2) - Flip the base around and align the cable hole with the bottom of the VESA adapter. Start applying zip-ties from this hole and extend towards the top of the VESA adapter. The more zip-ties the better.
Step 3) - Tighten your zip-ties with pliers. I like to grab hold of the zip-tie end near the zip-tie base with pliers and rotate it until I hear a pleasant number of clicks.
Step 4) - Flip the iMac over, place it upright and perform a variety of stress tests to ensure it doesn’t fall over.
Step 5) - Adjust the angle of the screen with books.
By utilizing an Apple-supplied card, I was able to engage a latch to reveal the eight torx screws holding the base on.
You’ll want to adjust your iMac’s angle with a computer science book of your choice. Bonus points if it’s object-oriented.
The iMac now at a much more comfortable level and angled slightly to allow air to flow through the bottom vents.
One side effect of this modification is that your friends and roommates will use it as an example to show how their cheaper monitors already have the ability to adjust height. You can fend them off with your trusty torque ratchet, pictured on the desk. (I actually had the ratchet there to persuade an unrelated bolt in my desk to go back to its proper place.)
This is so the Greek in you :P
That is soo ghetto. I’d almost say “Ghetto the the MAX”.
that doesnt look stable you should add more duct tape
As I mentioned, these zip-ties I picked up from Home Depot are industrial strength - they have 2 interlocking latches for double protection. =) hah
Wait! I thought “Macs are all about design and beauty” That looks terrible, my black Samsung looks hot compared to that. Makes me want to take a clawhammer to your desk. Can’t wait for the vesa arm though, but for now I get to make fun of you for it.
If you used the industrial strength zip-ties, I wouldn’t worry about it moving. Those things are bulletproof. I’ve used them in the past, to hold various itmes and have never had an issue.
Drop that ish! Oh wait…
Wow. Ghetto is correct.
This is the iMac equivalent of cut springs on a Civic.
You forgot to mention the other (dangerous) side affect; you are now covering the iMac’s vents!
@Samtherocker - nope, I mentioned that too.. the iMac is angled and allows sufficient air through. I’ve been using it for the last 4 hours with no heat issues of any sort. =)
“The iMac now at a much more comfortable level and angled slightly to allow air to flow through the bottom vents.”
Ah, my apologies, I missed the caption. Sorry.
No worries, I should have put that in the actual article and not just the caption.
To be quite frankly that looks horrible! Although it might be “working”… How about getting a “foot” from another display that features the VESA-mounts? Even if it isn’t from a 24″ display it may fit so that the imac only uses it for support… another idea is to make a foot that is just a support angled from the back off the mount of the VESA-mount holes on the display. I don’t know how to explain it, but think like when making a card-house? You would just have to fix the angle and then the iMac would act as the other part of the foot…
Damm i want one :-)
trade it for my powerbook :-?
Extremely ghetto… but awesome!
I wonder how the audio sounds like now. The iMac speakers are on the bottom part of it. The sound waves are supposed to hit the desk below the iMac and bounce towards the user.
@Rafael - I haven’t tested that out as I use other speakers but I don’t think it would sound too great as the angle isn’t large enough to let too much sound out.
Not Ghetto enough!! You need more duct tape
Is that your bed behind the monitor ? That is a very good way to create a barrier between working and being in bed. I can’t tell you how often I’ve gotten into bed and noticed an alert, or an IM or an e-mail notification as I’m laying there and just thought “I’ll merely look who it’s from” next things it’s 20 minutes later and I’m not any closure to getting some shut eye. I lie to myself saying well I might use it watch DVDs from the bed… it just means I don’t stop working.
why did you lower the monitor? you will need to lift it in order to dust under it…-:)
@George- I lowered it purely for ergonomic reasons. It was too tall with my desk setup previously. I talked about it here: http://paulstamatiou.com/2007/02/13/recommendations-for-a-vesa-arm/
This is temporary until my VESA arm arrives.
Mac users sure work hard…
I have never heard Apple computers and ghetto used in the same sentence before.
Hello! Please will you be nice and take contact with me on my email adress, I have a 24″iMac (the white one) and I have some questions. Please send me a mail.
/Andreas